Symptom clusters of pain, depressed mood, and fatigue in lung cancer: assessing the role of cytokine genes.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Symptom clusters, the multiple, co-occurring symptoms experienced by cancer patients, are debilitating and affects quality of life. We assessed if a panel of immune-response genes may underlie the co-occurrence of severe pain, depressed mood, and fatigue and help identify patients with severe versus non-severe symptom clusters.

Methods

Symptoms were assessed at presentation, prior to cancer treatment in 599 newly diagnosed lung cancer patients. We applied cluster analyses to determine the patients with severe versus non-severe symptom clusters of pain, depressed mood, and fatigue.

Results

Two homogenous clusters were identified. One hundred sixteen patients (19 %) comprised the severe symptom cluster, reporting high intensity of pain, depressed mood, and fatig

SUBMITTER: Reyes-Gibby CC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3923575 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature